Opinions from professors
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Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate economist based at Columbia University
disagrees
Tariffs
With the election of Trump, America's soft power has taken a big hit. The United States has moved from a position of leadership in the creation of a rules-based international system to a position of leadership in its destruction and the creation of a regime of global protectionism. The damage will be long-lasting.
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate economist based at Columbia University
agrees
Universal Health Care
As the gap between rich and poor keeps growing and part-time jobs become more common, we must strengthen the social safety net. Universal health coverage would give essential protection, and needs to be part of every society.
Robert Mundell, Canadian economist
agrees
Tariffs
The United States can't keep a completely open system if the rest of the world is less open. The United States may have to take a leaf out of the book of Japan, China, and Germany, and have protectionism inside the system.
Shinya Yamanka, Japanese stem cell researcher
agrees
Vaccines
I think that the discoveries of antibiotics and vaccines have contributed to the improvement of the quality of life, making it possible to prevent contagious diseases.
Vint Cerf, Internet pioneer
Historically, technology has created more jobs than it destroys and there is no reason to think otherwise in this case. Someone has to make and service all these advanced devices.
Lawrence Summers, Economist and Harvard University Professor
It is widely feared that half the jobs in the economy might be eliminated by innovations such as self-driving vehicles, automatic checkout machines and expert systems that trade securities more effectively than humans can.
Yanis Varoufakis, Former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens
agrees
Basic Income
Either we are going to have a basic income that regulates this new society of ours, or we are going to have very substantial social conflicts that get far worse with xenophobia and refugees and migration and so forth.
Rowan Williams, Former Archbishop of Canterbury
agrees
State-funded faith schools
The often-forgotten fact that church schools are the main educational presence in some of our most deprived communities means that it simply can't be said that these schools somehow have a policy of sanitising or segregating.
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate economist based at Columbia University
disagrees
Cryptocurrencies
[Governments will] regulate it out of existence.
Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard economist and former US Treasury secretary
agrees
Soda taxes
We have strong evidence from around the world that raising taxes on products like tobacco, sugar sweetened beverages and alcohol is highly effective at reducing harmful consumption and saving lives. I think this is about as close to free-lunch, win-win policy as economists have found
Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard economist and former US Treasury secretary
agrees
Health taxes
We have strong evidence from around the world that raising taxes on products like tobacco, sugar sweetened beverages and alcohol is highly effective at reducing harmful consumption and saving lives. I think this is about as close to free-lunch, win-win policy as economists have found
Martin Feldstein, Economics Professor @ Harvard University & President Emeritus, National Bureau of Economic Research
agrees
Carbon Tax
Two-thirds of American households will receive more in carbon dividends than they will pay directly in carbon taxes.
Gary Becker,
agrees
Carbon Tax
We should seek out the many forms of subsidy that run through the entire energy enterprise and eliminate them. In their place we propose a measure that could go a long way toward leveling the playing field: a revenue-neutral tax on carbon, a major pollutant.
Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel laureate economist based at Columbia University
disagrees
Basic Income
You want your government to think more carefully about targeting programmes that help those in need, rather than universal. That’s a trade-off given the budget constraints on the public sector
Angus Deaton, British microeconomist
agrees
Basic Income
The government should take care of people with low income and should be pushing basic income grants
Yanis Varoufakis, Former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens
disagrees
Robot Tax
Either the robot sales tax should be dropped or it should be generalized into a capital goods sales tax. But imagine the uproar against a tax on all capital goods: Woe betide those who would diminish domestic productivity and competitiveness!
Lawrence H. Summers, Harvard economist and former US Treasury secretary
disagrees
Robot Tax
First, I cannot see any logic to singling out robots as job destroyers. There are many kinds of innovation that allow the production of more or better output with less labor input. Why pick on robots? Second, much innovative activity, even of a robotlike variety, involves producing better goods and services rather than simply extracting more output from the same input. Third, and perhaps most fund...
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Yoshua Bengio, Computer scientist at University of Montreal
One thing I came with is also … this subject of safe AI came up in many discussions, and I would say that these discussions left a strong [positive] impression on me.
Mike Hulme, Professor of Climate and Culture in the Department of Geography at King's College London
The world would be better off fighting the consequences of climate change - hunger, storm damage and disease - rather than spending billions of pounds trying to stabilise CO2 emissions across the planet
Martin Chalfie, Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry
I’m not so sure we’re any more special than other scientists who have looked at the evidence involved, but we have considerably more visibility because of the prize. I think that this behooves us, that when we feel that science is not being listened to, that we speak out.
Lawrence Summers, Economist and Harvard University Professor
agrees
Carbon Tax
But there should be no doubt that starting from the current zero tax rate on carbon, increased taxation would be desirable
Frank Wilczek, Physicist, MIT and Recipient, 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics
Without careful restraint and tact, researchers could wake up to discover they've enabled the creation of armies of powerful, clever, vicious paranoiacs
Daniel C. Dennett, Philosopher and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy
The real danger, then, is not machines that are more intelligent than we are usurping our role as captains of our destinies. The real danger is basically clueless machines being cededauthority far beyond their competence.
Yanis Varoufakis, Former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens
A simple policy would be to enact legislation requiring that a percentage of capital stock (shares) from every initial public offering (IPO) be channeled into a Commons Capital Depository, with the associated dividends funding a universal basic dividend
Yanis Varoufakis, Former finance minister of Greece, is Professor of Economics at the University of Athens
disagrees
Brexit
[Brexit] would make a bad thing [the EU] far, far worse … Monsters don’t have to win elections to be in power.
Kenneth Arrow, American economist, writer, Nobel laureate, and political theorist.
agrees
Carbon Tax
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